Are These California Values?

If this were Nazi Germany, David Brayton would have been wearing a brown shirt. Instead, he sat down to shoot a commercial with Congressman Steve Knight with a shirt emblazoned with the word “infidel.” This only hinted at his hatred of the Muslim religion and other “overt bigotry”

In responding to the Times’ reporter, Knight’s reporter complained about the timing of the article. However, no repudiation of Brayton was included. I contacted the Knight campaign through their website asking if they had any further comment but did not receive a response.

While one might be willing to explain away the creation of the ad as a failure to vet, it does not explain why the campaign continued to display it on their Facebook page and website after they were made aware of Brayton’s viewpoints. This seems particularly tone-deaf given that, in the previous week, bombs had been sent to CNN, Obama, Clinton and other people that Brayton had ranted against. In the week following the largest domestic slaughter of Jews, the continued embrace of someone with anti-semitic views is just plain dangerous.

Since Knight refuses to publicly address the issue, his constituents are left to decide for themselves why their congressman would refuse to publicly distance himself from a bigot. Does his campaign think that he will appear weak if he admits to having made a mistake? Is he afraid to alienate like-minded voters in a close election? Or perhaps he agrees with Brayton’s sentiments.